MARVIN
Has
it started to dawn on you Marvin that the commissioners at JJOKE, especially
the legislative appointees, are always playing catch-up to the staff?
Was
Ravi right? Do certain commissioners get less information than others?
As
you are preparing for next Tuesdays meeting Marvin ask yourself if you have all
the data you need or have asked for?
Is
your briefing book as complete as you were used to when you were in government?
As thorough as you would have expected one of your associates to have prepared
for you?
Have
you even gotten your briefing book yet?
Why
not? Marvin why do they always wait to the last minute?
Do
you have an agenda yet?
Has
any staff member volunteered to meet with you and discuss issues?
They
don’t even have to travel Marvin you can meet in the NYC office on Beaver
Street and go over all those complex issues the commission deals with.
Trust
me Marvin certain commissioners have already had those meetings and choreographed
how the meeting Tuesday will go.
And
ordinarily I’d let you flounder in that sea of ethics, my initial feel about
you was that you were a typical pompous arrogant “smart” New York City lawyer
(and no that is not code for Jewish Marvin as I am a member of the tribe
myself) it means a lawyer who is so certain that they are the smartest guy in
the room that many times they don’t even realize they are in the wrong
room. I mean lawyers like Herb
Teitelbaum, Barry Ginsberg, Ellen Biben, Michael Cherkasky, Dan Horowitz (maybe
it is code for Jewish lawyers. . . I’ve got to think about that some more) and
Andy Celli (whew I’m not an anti Semite after all). But you’ve shown a willingness to question
Biben’s absolute control over JJOKE, following in Ravi’s footsteps so I have
hope for you and will try to help if you let me, at a minimum when you read this
it may provoke you to act.
So
here is my advice Marvin ask Ellen and you fellow commissioners if all the
commissioners have received the sworn complaints filed with JJOKE. And I’m not just talking about the one you
saw me serve on the Chairwomen. . Have you seen it? I left 14 copies addressed
to the commissioners. I’m talking about
the other sworn complaints that have been filed for example the one related to
the recent senate race and the activity of those in favor of “campaign finance
reform”. Have you seen the opinion
requests related to source of funding?
On
the subject of source of funding do you know why the commission required it to
be filed on paper forms when you have a state of the art online system? Read my previous blogs if you want the
answer.
If
the answer is no ask Biben why? You have
an obligation under the statute to act on these issues not staff but the
commissioners as a body. And to act you
need information.
The
best advice I give new commissioners, and I have been asked for that advice by
many, even some of your fellow commissioners sitting at the table with you, is
that staff only has the power you give them.
And as a former head of an ethics agency if you let them they can
control the debate by what and when they provide you with information.
Right
now Marvin, Biben and her puppeteers are in complete control of JJOKE and you
and your fellow legislative appointed commissioners look foolish. Ask yourself Marvin are Dan Horowitz and
Uncle Vinnie really that much smarter than you?
Feel
free to call me Marvin you will not be the first commissioner to discuss things
with me and you won’t be the last. Just
ask around the table.
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